Unlocking Wisdom: Forging Agents of God in the House of Mourning

by James Reitman

This scholarly exposition of Job and Ecclesiastes draws on contemporary Speech-Act theory to explore and develop the meaning encoded by the author in each unit of text. Each expository section is thus written with a three-part summary statement to elucidate how that unit of text expresses the author' (1) literary design; (2) communicative intent; and (3) response desired from the ideal reader. For those readers interested in validating the conclusions reached in the commentary for the meaning embedded in each unit of text, the footnotes provide more detailed exegesis and theological development of the author's argument, and how it correlates with the rest of Scripture. The footnotes also cite contributions of other expositors to demonstrate consistency of interpretation or contemporary relevance of the text. The commentary also includes a Summary Chart and Expository Outline for each book to enhance the reader's grasp of the "big picture." Together, the exposition and study aids are thus designed to show how the arguments of the two books are correlated in their canonical context to communicate a message that coheres with the rest of Scripture and is true to the text but also "true to life" and thus relevant for contemporary readers. This work thus provides a more canonically consistent, internally coherent, and readily applicable reading of these two difficult books of Wisdom than is available in most verse-by-verse exegetical treatments. To this end, the updated version includes significant improvements to each feature of the + Text and Footnotes thoroughly edited and revised for improved exegetical clarity; coherence; and cross-referencing to other units of text, portions of Scripture, and relevant commentary by other authors + Summary Statements completely rewritten for a more accurate and coherent synopsis of authorial intent for each unit of text + Synthetic Charts and Expository Outlines revised to facilitate a more intuitive and coherent grasp of the "big picture" of Job and Ecclesiastes + Bibliographies updated with new editions of key reference books and relevant new articles + New subtitles for the frontispiece of each major section to recap that section's "punch" for the contemporary reader

446 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2013